Are human beings in control of their fate? The story of Oedipus shows that it is not. Oedipus did try to escape his fate a lot of times, but couldn’t because no matter how much you try to run from your fate, you just cannot escape it anyway, what is meant to be, will always find a way to you. He tried his best to run from the prophecy. First by deciding not to return to Corinth, the city where...
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The most important and unique subgenre of dramatic literature is tragedy. The term tragedy is greatly utilized for literary, and mainly for the dramatist, illustration of serious movements which eventuate in a disastrous conclusion for the protagonist. A tragedy is it genre of drama focusing on tales of human suffering. The drama normally consists of a human flaw or weak factor in one of the work’s central characters, which then triggers a devastating match or sequence of activities for these...
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Introduction The works of ancient Greek literature have captivated readers across generations. One such masterpiece, Oedipus the King, crafted by the esteemed playwright Sophocles, surpasses temporal and cultural barriers in its profound exploration of the intricacies of human existence. This article takes you on a journey into the enigmatic realm of Oedipus, a character whose life becomes a tumultuous battlefield where destiny and individual agency intersect. Summary In the play “Oedipus the King,” the central focus is on Oedipus himself,...
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Oedipus The King is a work heavily focused on Justice. Oedipus, as a king, discovers that the only way he can save his beloved city and its people is to seek and punish the murder of his predecessor. He is determined to establish justice and peace in his city. He starts to uncover the murder mystery but he faces harsh and irrevocable consequences. The most promising theme of the play is that human beings are powerless before faith and God....
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Why do Greek figures suffer punishment from the gods? Gods had a very benevolent attitude to life. They were not constrained by family relationships, which is why brothers could marry their sisters and could kill their fathers with children or a son. Many moral rules deities can commit would not apply to us, one could say the gods are amoral. The sentence for humans is severe for breaking a moral or divine law. These same laws didn’t apply to deities,...
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While I enjoyed all the poems and stories we have read in class. The one that really stood out to me is Oedipus the King. The poem is very enjoyable to read and has many lessons about life. Unlike too many readers, I think Oedipus was a hero, of course, he was unfortunate in the eyes of the Gods. He forces the question to discover the truth about him and about the murderer of King Louis to save his people....
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‘To be, or not to be?’ To die, or to suffer eternally? That is the question the two protagonists are faced with, all in order to build resilience. Both protagonists possess the ability to rebel against and challenge their fate to prove their credo, but only one turns into a resilient hero. By comparing the lives of both Oedipus and Hamlet, it becomes apparent Oedipus is more resilient in the end. A resilient person will go to great lengths to...
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Oedipus Rex is one of the Greek tragedies that continues to captivate modern audiences. The play explores several themes, including Oedipus’ quest for identity, the nature of innocence and guilt, blindness and sight, and power abuse; however, the most powerful and fascinating theme discussed in the play is the divisive question of whether humans have free will or are victims of fate. Sophocles, the author, correctly distinguishes between fate and free will in human life decisions. His ideas about the...
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Inside the debate on cinema and literature, particularly on cinematographic adaptations of literary works, the name Pier Paolo Pasolini inevitably has great relevance. Eclectic artist, critic, poet, and distinguished expert of classical languages he was, in fact, among the very few post-war artists capable of producing both arts (cinema and literature) obtaining results of great international impact. In regard to adaptations, one of his most significant intents was a ‘simultaneous reinstating and questioning the central tropes of his culture’ through...
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Fate is often a heavily debated topic as some believe that humans can deviate from one’s predetermined fate and make it their own. However, others, especially those who have strong religious beliefs, may argue that fate is set in stone by a higher power beginning from one’s birth to their death. The ancient Greeks were highly dependent on the ideology of gods, goddesses, and fate. Thus play writers much like Sophocles often write tragic plays that revolve around the theme...
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According to Aristotle, Oedipus, the King is a perfect and supreme definition of tragedy. Aristotle defines tragedy in the aspects of its actions, plot, and characters. Oedipus fits the model of a tragic hero based on a number of factors. First, he has a great personality with the goals and commitment to find the truth and save his country from the problems it is experiencing. However, he has a tragic weakness where he becomes disrespectful and careless to the gods...
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The Invisible Enemy Some people believe their destiny is predetermined, created long before they were born. They believe prophecies are messages from above that an individual chooses to follow or not. Destiny is a term for the development of a course of events beyond a person’s control. Prophecies act as guidance for them to mostly make an attempt to change their destiny which in some unusual cases they try to find its completion (though in these situations the prophecy is...
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Although it is widely alleged that destiny is by choice, there are a vast number of people who believed that it is by fate. Those who believed it is by choice follow the directions and guidance of their elders. For example, they will try to hold on to the values that their parents instilled in them and use them to guide their entire lives. Others who believed that destiny is by fate, believe that the outcome of their lives is...
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Pride comes in all shapes and sizes. It could be the feeling of a parent whose child graduates from college or using pride to help uplift one’s self-confidence and esteem by reflecting an intrinsically motivating “can do” attitude. To some degree, every living being needs pride, but when this self-confidence is so overwhelming that it blinds the person to the truth, it prevents one from making the right decisions and ultimately leads to their downfall. This type of pride creates...
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Today, the name Oedipus is typically first associated with inappropriate familial relations. And with a name linked so closely to such a despicable action, many unfamiliar with Sophale’s Oedipus Rex imagine Oedipus must have been a man of no morals — given that he married his mother and slaughtered his father. But the play itself reveals a more complex story of a righteous man who, because of a foretold prophecy and a hidden childhood past, ends up in the worst...
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In the beginning, I want to introduce background information about Sophocles. He is the most famous playwright of ancient Greece. He is one of the three tragic writers in Athens. He does not only believe in the supreme power of God and destiny but also requires people to have an independent spirit and be responsible for their own actions, which is the feature of ideology in the period of democratic political prosperity in Athens. Sophocles lived between 496 and 406...
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Similarities between Gilgamesh and Oedipus are that they both face a tragic end. Oedipus however faces his tragic end due to fate, it was inevitable that he will lay with his mother and kill his father. Gilgamesh faces his tragic end due to his own self-righteousness that got him there, his search for notoriety got Enkidu, his dear friend, killed. The difference between the two heroes is shown in how they react to losing someone, Oedipus blinds himself, showing that...
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Reality is filled with an uneven balance of fate and free will, with free will being a stronger force. A person may have his or her life planned to the last second, but a random force may intervene and can affect the person’s future instantly. Some belief in destiny, claiming that our lives are predetermined at birth. Others believe that everything is random and that everyone has complete control over their destiny, every step of the way. Throughout English literature...
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Oedipus submits the deplorable demonstration of slaughtering his dad and wedding his mom. The sad occasions that follow appear to be well-suited discipline for this transgression. In any case, in Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, Oedipus is simply ‘an offspring of Fortune’ (Sophocles, 1080), not liable for his wrongdoings since his destiny was resolved before birth. In endeavoring to dodge his destiny, Oedipus perpetrates his violations unconsciously. He comprehends the grievous idea of the violations told in the prescience so he...
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You can be oblivious to the people around you. An example of this phenomenon is shown in the movie The Ugly Truth. The main character, a woman who is looking for love, and a man who doesn’t believe in love come together and they fall for each other. The man doesn’t open up to the idea that love is real until he has experienced this. Similar themes appear in a handful of books and movies. In the play, Oedipus the...
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Brilliantly interesting and convincingly demystifying was Joseph Campbell’s revelation of the hero monomyth. This revelation is detailed in his prominent work The Hero with a Thousand Faces, in which Campbell stresses the significance of the hero monomyth present in all heroic myths. And because the monomyth can be identified in any work presenting a hero, similar patterns emerge among the many different myths. These patterns consist of phases and sub-phases of the hero monomyth. And although the main phases can...
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Sophocles’ The Three Theban Plays explores the faults in one’s character that triggers irrational and unlawful behavior. A specific fault seems to recur throughout the plays and pushes characters to commit the greatest crimes. To find this fault, it is vital to retrace the motivation of each character’s actions. The root of all their actions is pride. Oedipus, Antigone, and Creon all succumb to this fault. These characters’ pride drives their every action and clouds their judgment. Pride is the...
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Aristotle in his famous book ‘Poetics’ describes the traits needed to complete the tragedy. As in accordance to Aristotle, any tragedy is a perfect tragedy when the action has soberness, expansive, and ideal in it. Some of the important factors of a perfect tragedy are Peripeteia, Anagnorisis, and catharsis. King Oedipus of Greek mythology owns all the features of a complete tragedy. Oedipus epitomizes these aspects by adding an exclusive breadth, exemplifying a complete flow, presenting a tragic complex plot,...
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In the play, “Oedipus the King”, the story evolves as a murder mystery where Sophocles underlines the irony of a man determined to find, reveal, and punish the murderer of Laius, which ends up him hunting himself. The idea of sight and blindness in this tragic play is a comparison, with blindness symbolizing wisdom or knowledge, entwined with light and truth. While sight symbolizes ignorance, darkness, and fabricating the truth. The references to sight and blindness, both metaphorical and literal...
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An Individual’s choices and behavior lead to certain consequences that they face in the end. Many believe in higher powers having control over their actions and fate. Others, however, believe they have control over their actions and the consequences that precede them. In Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, Sophocles depicts the Greek’s belief that fate controls lives, rather than free will. The concept of fate and free presents an integral part of the protagonist’s destruction. The prophecy declared Oedipus’ future. He,...
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Thank you, Your Honor. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, thank you for your time as all the evidence was carefully presented. So, all the facts and evidence have been presented to you today and with that, I’d like to say the fate of Oedipus’ life now is within your hands. Oedipus has been convicted of committing an inhumane crime and letting his anger get the best of him, resulting in grave damage therefore we request that you determine a...
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The Greek philosopher, Aristotle, defines a tragic hero as a character having valiant traits that earn the audience’s sympathy but also have human flaws that ultimately lead to their own downfall. Aristotle states a tragic hero’s fortune should be not from bad to good but from good to bad caused by their own doing. A tragic hero’s misfortune is seen ‘not through vice or depravity but by some error of judgment.’ This hamartia refers to a flaw in the hero’s...
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Oedipus’ determination, in this case, to rule, can be seen as one of the main reasons for his downfall. In the story, The Sphinx presented the following riddle for those who sought to rule Thebes: ‘What is it that walks on 4 feet and 2 feet and 3 feet and has only one voice, when it walks on most feet it is the weakest?’ (page, line #). Oedipus answered ‘Man’, the precise answer to which won him the crown (page,...
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Catharsis is the feeling of pity or fear for someone whose misfortune is undeserved. In the texts, “Hamlet”, by William Shakespeare, and “Oedipus the King”, by Sophocles the audience experiences these feelings for the main characters. It is easy to feel this way for these characters because it is basic human nature to be compassionate for others. We do so because it is easy to imagine ourselves in someone else’s shoes. It is easy to feel pity for Hamlet. At...
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Oedipus submits the offensive demonstration of slaughtering his dad and wedding his mom. The grievous occasions that pursue appear to be able to discipline for this wrongdoing. However, in Sophocles’ Oedipus the Ruler, Oedipus is just ‘an offspring of Fortune’ (Sophocles, 1080), not blameworthy of his wrongdoings since his destiny was resolved before birth. In endeavoring to keep away from his destiny, Oedipus perpetrates his wrongdoings unconsciously. He comprehends the shocking idea of the wrongdoings told in the prediction so...
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